BACK in May this year, government medical doctors at Gweru Provincial Hospital successfully delivered a pregnant woman who tested positive for Covid-19 at a quarantine centre.

The woman had been quarantined at Mkoba Teachers college after returning from Botswana earlier.

There were serious concerns on the safety of health officials and of the baby with regards to contracting Covid-19 as this was the first of its kind to be recorded in the country.

Fortunately, the woman gave birth to a healthy baby via a caesarian section with no complications recorded as doctors took precautionary measures to ensure they were safe.
They were fully clothed in Personal Protective Equipment, too.

Speaking to The Herald, Epidemiologist, Dr Kelvin Charambira shed some light on the chances of the baby being safe from infection.

He also said this was a new phenomenon yet to be fully investigated and reported on.

Dr Charambira explained that although the area of Covid-19 was new, there were similarities with other viruses.

“For a virus like HIV, a mother can pass it on to the baby. In the case of Covid-19, if a rapid test is performed, the likelihood of the baby testing positive for Covid-19 is there because the test will simply be detecting antibodies from the mother.

Antibodies can easily pass through the placenta to the unborn child.

As such, the test will read positive not because the child has the virus, but it will be antibodies picked up,” he said-The Herald